2012: Won Most Improved Late Model Driver and finished 5th Overall in Late Model Division at Thunder Road

What are your favorite hobbies in the off-season?

I do a lot of hunting and snow machining in the winter, but I also play golf and men’s basketball.I’ve been doing all of those since I was a kid, except for golf, which I started in high school.

What do you do for work?

I am an HVAC technician.I work for Cacicio Heating. We install gas and oil-fired boilers and furnaces, among other things.

What is your biggest life accomplishment?

I’m going to go with being named the Spaulding Barre Technical Center Student of the Year.They pick one student that has accomplished the most at the technical center and in high school, and when I graduated in 2010, it was me.It was a huge honor.

Big Plans for 2013?

I am racing for Jason Allen as my car owner full time in the Late Models at Thunder Road, and hopefully some ACT stuff along the way.I love White Mountain Motorsports Park, so I definitely want to race that event.Hopefully we get to a few others as well.

What is the state of your car currently?

We’re a solid month from getting the body back on it.We’ve got a lot of the internal stuff done, but there’s a ways to go.It is Grant Folsom’s old car.

What race are you looking forward to the most in 2013?

It might be kind of weird to say, but I’m most excited for the Milk Bowl even though it is so far away.I’ve always loved the Milk Bowl.Loved watching it, love racing it, I love everything about it.

What was the highlight of the 2012 season for you?

I would say having back-to-back podium finishes mid-summer.Finishing on the podium two weeks in a row is tough to do, so I think that was definitely the highlight of my year.

Do you have a hero? Someone you idolize as a racecar driver or try to emulate?

My father Greg “Burger” Blake.He’s the one that got me into racing in 1999 when I was seven, and he’s taught me his driving style growing up. If I could be as successful as he was I would be very happy. He was the kind of guy that raced for wins and let the points fall where they may.I’ve been more of a points racer over the years, but I want to be more like him.

Who is your biggest fan at the track?

I would say my parents and grandparents, my sister, and then Michelle Brazier, and Ian Carey.Michelle is my girlfriend, and Ian is a long time Thunder Road supporter and next-door neighbor.Everything that I do he’s right there to celebrate or mourn over.My family is such a big part of my racing support, though.They’ve never missed a race since I started racing at Thunder Road.

What is something about you that most people don’t know?

I shot a moose in 2005 and have it hanging over my bed. We were out at our camp and my Dad was the guide.That was the first and only time I ever tried hunting a moose. My mom wouldn’t let me hang it in the living room, so I have it over my bed.Now I have my own house that I’m renovating so it will be down there sooner than I know it!

How did you start racing?

My dad had me in a kid-kart at Thunder Road when I was seven. I had been to the races as far as I can remember, then Alex Ferno’s dad, Jimmy Hebert’s dad, and mine got together and bought us go-karts.

Tell me about your family?

My dad is the head shop man, and my mom cooks the meals for race shop, which I think is just as important!My grandparents stop by the shop all the time to check it out.Everybody stops by so it’s pretty social experience.I have an older sister too who is about nine years older than me.Her name is Jessie.She lives in North Carolina now but she was definitely one of my biggest supporters when she was up here.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully by then I’ll have enough money supporters to race ACT.That’s been a lifetime dream of mine.